#leopard gecko

I have  leopard gecko, whom I noticed would get very afraid when I was looking at her, and since she was very new and a baby it was reasonable this giant (me) was dangerous and could mean her harm. So I did what is called “love eyes” where you very slowly blink at a pet and hold your eyes closed a moment and then slowly open them again. This is a thing cats usually do, but when I tried it with Fig she almost immediately calmed down and looked more relaxed. Whenever she looked scared or upset I’d do love eyes at her and she’d seem to understand that I didn’t mean her any harm.

I’m not sure how many days or weeks it was (as we’ve been together nine years at this point) but not too long after I did the slow calming blink and when I opened my eyes she slowly blinked at me too- though she didn’t get it quite right and just ended up slowly squinting back at me before going about her business. At first I wasn’t sure if it was coincidence that she blinked at that time, but over and over again as time went on after that, I would love blink at her and even if she wasn’t scared she’d love blink back at me. Over time she’s had a lot of practice and does a full slow blink now. We’d found a way to communicate that everything as alright and everything was safe!

I brought a friend over and she looked very scared when I tried to introduce them, and Fig kept looking at me for cues to if this strange new human was dangerous. I told my friend to give Fig “love eyes” (explaining what that was) and then Fig would trust her, and when my friend did Fig immediately understood and was curious and went over to check her out. It’s like we had a secret code, and anyone I told the code to Fig would understand they didn’t mean her harm.

Tonight I moved where her terarium is to in front of the mirrored closet doors in the living room, and for the past hour she has been staring at the lizard in the mirror, repeatedly doing slow blinks at the “other lizard” so it knows she isn’t a threat, and the “other lizard” has been giving them back.

I think this is the opposite of what most other lizards do who attack mirrors and floof out their necks and skin flaps in signs of aggression. My little bean is so sweet.

Asha (some kind of albino leopard gecko - she’s not kept on moss, this is a photographic prop)